Individuals use different types of shoes for different purposes. In recent years, athletic shoes have been designed to meet the needs of particular sports and athletic activities. Different types of athletic shoes include, for example, walking shoes, running shoes, basketball shoes, tennis shoes, volleyball shoes, and power-lifting shoes to name a few. Each of these different types of shoes targeted to specific athletic activities includes features that may or may not be present in the other types of shoes. For example, a runner may be primarily interested in energy return features that will make his or her stride as efficient as possible. On the other hand, a power lifter may more interested in the low-compression stability features that properly support the user during weight lifting activities. However, an athlete visiting a gym may split his or her time between power-lifting and running or other cardio activities. In these situations, the athlete typically changes shoes when transitioning between power-lifting and cardio or other gym activities.
While a change of shoes when switching from one type of athletic training to another is not uncommon, it is typically undesirable for most athletes. A change of shoes not only takes additional time during a work-out, but is also inconvenient. Moreover, the cost of owning two different pairs of shoes for athletic training activities is burdensome. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an athletic shoe that offered an athlete the advantages of a power-lifting shoe as well as a cardio-training shoe.
Cross-training shoes are a hybrid of several different types of athletic footwear and have been developed for use in different athletic areas in the past. For example, a cross-training shoe may be designed to include the heel cushioning of a running shoe, the lateral stability of a tennis or basketball shoe or basketball sneaker, and the forefoot cushioning of a volleyball shoe. However, designing a cross-training shoe that incorporates a number of distinct features that are typically unique to specific types of shoes is difficult. For example, it is difficult to provide a shoe incorporating all the energy return features desired by a runner along with all of the stability desired by a weight-lifter. It is also challenging to design such a shoe that is comfortable to the user, lightweight, and visually appealing.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a shoe that incorporates features typical of different special purpose athletic shoes, such as incorporating the energy return qualities typical of a running shoe and the stability features of a power-lifting shoe. It would also be advantageous to provide a shoe that is comfortable for the user, lightweight and visually appealing.